


think no more of the swallow!

by unfathomableTortoise



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Band Fic, F/F, arcana swap, drama club, is that a tag? hmm, those last two haven't appeared yet but they will... soon...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-07 23:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12242337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfathomableTortoise/pseuds/unfathomableTortoise
Summary: Chie didn't think that she'd be starting high school from scratch in some out-of-the-way town like this. At least nobody here knows about her string of embarrassing nicknames, or thatincidentin grade 5. She's determined to put a positive spin on the situation: after all, this year promises to be better than ever! She's got a trombone, a chance to achieve her long-time dream, and... a new best friend?A year later, a transfer student unearths way too much interpersonal drama for only a year, and starts to wonder what he's got himself into.(I felt the arts club social links in p4 got kind of stiffed: if the sports clubs representatives get a happy and sweet and gay shared plotline, why shouldn't the arts clubs get one, too? I haven't found an au for that, so I've decided to write one.)





	think no more of the swallow!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arwainian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arwainian/gifts).



> Happy belated (by (exactly) a month) birthday! <3  
> (I don't think I can rival the one-month-belated birthday gift you gave me, but I'll do my best.)
> 
> Title from [this](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55325/saturday-market) poem by Charlotte Mew. Thanks to [evelynriese](http://archiveofourown.org/users/evelynriese) for the beta read!

One thing you need to know about Chie Satonaka- whatever else, she is a man of her word.

Or. Uh. A person of her word? Chie’s not sure how she’s supposed to use that phrase for herself. Maybe she shouldn’t worry about it so much, but Takeshi keeps teasing her at lunch about how unladylike she is, and it’s starting to get to her. Anyway, she’s getting off-track here. The point is, once she’s risen to a challenge, Chie Satonaka does  _ not _ back out. No siree! That can be a bit of a problem, since her mouth seems to perpetually be a couple miles ahead of her brain, but she’s always stuck to whatever’s come out of it, no matter how stupid it is. That’s kind of a difficult task, sometimes: it’s given her at various points two sprained ankles, a stomachache, a broken arm, and an embarrassing nickname that followed her throughout the entirety of grade five. But it’s also given her respect! At least, that’s what she’s decided, (contrary to all evidence) and she’s sticking with it.

When she caught sight of her trombone in an old music shop, it was love at first sight. She’d started listening to jazz not too long ago, digging through some of her father’s old albums for hours, and she  _ loved _ it. A vision flashed across her mind of herself, trombone in hand, wowing a crowd with some Fontana-like solo, pushing the trombone slide out all the way as  _ much as she wanted _ (and making it look cool at the same time!). She knew immediately that destiny had made this trombone for her, and she wasn’t going let down destiny.

Her parents, however, of more skeptical of this line of thinking than she’d expected. She’d have to put aside a lot of time to practice, they pointed out. Learning an instrument could be hard and frustrating work. Musical instruments are usually fairly expensive, too- they didn’t even want to get her a used one without a strong commitment on her part to play it.

She was determined, though. She was  _ going _ to do this. She would be the best trombonist who ever lived! Her dream of being a professional martial artist warrior was just that, she knew- a dream. There wasn’t much of a market for real-life action movie heroes these days. Professional jazz musician, on the other hand…

Somehow, though, her trombone didn’t seem to realize how good a trombonist she was. It took her an embarrassing amount of time to even figure out how to make a sound with the mouthpiece. When a group of guys from her class (including Takeshi!) passed her trying to play Hot Cross Buns on her front porch (her mom had sent her outside after only fifteen minutes of practice- something about how if she was going to make the neighbors think they were strangling ducks at least she should do it  _ outside  _ of the house), they just laughed at her. Face flaming, Chie pointed out that she didn’t think  _ they  _ could do much better, thank her very much! 

“And it’s not like I’ve been practicing for very long,” she said, angrily. “You know, I bet you that by the time we get to high school, I’ll be captain of the band!”

“I’d like to see you try,” sneered the boy who sat behind her in Math.

“I  _ will _ !” she insisted. “I swear! You’ll see!”

Now, five years later, the fact that she’s moving halfway through her last year of middle school means that there isn’t anyone to check to see if she fulfills that promise. No-one at her new school cares whether she can lead a high school band. For that matter, she doesn’t think anyone else at her old school really cared about it anymore, either. But  _ she _ cares! As she’d already said, Chie’s a person of her word, and she’s not going to let herself down- no matter what stands in her way.

(She forgets to count on the existence of Yukiko Amagi.)

 

♫ ♫ ♫

 

She first meets Yukiko in the early spring before their first year of high school, just as the season was changing. Well, she’d  _ seen _ her before- she’s pretty sure Yukiko was in at least one of her classes last year, and of course she’d passed her in the halls once or twice, but they’d never been formally introduced or anything.

It happens when she’s sitting near the reception area in the Amagi Inn, humming that Gershwin song she’s been trying to get down recently and trying desperately to tune out the sound of her dad arguing with the manager. Does he have to be  _ this  _ embarrassing  _ all _ the time? she wonders, mortified. She hears someone passing behind her- probably one of the workers. She ignores them.

The footsteps stop. She hears them double back.

“ _ Rhapsody in Blue _ ?” asks a girl’s voice, too fascinated to be shy, and Chie turns around. The girl behind her is perfectly put-together, the picture of poise and demureness- or, at least, she would be without the all-consuming delighted smile taking over her face. Chie can’t help but grin right back, nodding.

“ _ No-one _ I play with knows that song,” the girl says, excitedly. “Do you know any of his longer compositions? Gershwin wrote a couple of really cool operas. I’m not sure I fully understand them, but I still like listening to them! It’s a fun way to evaluate my English comprehension. All of his pieces are so  _ fun _ to play, too! They’re just kind of- wandering up and down, and so  _ fluid _ , and kind of- you know, jazz-esque, and-”

Chie’s just sitting there while she talks, amused and unable to get a word in edgewise, and the other girl finally seems to realize that. She goes pink. (She blushes exactly like one would think a girl  _ should _ blush, Chie can’t help but notice wonderingly.) “Sorry, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet, have I? I’m Yukiko- Amagi Yukiko. I- my parents own the inn here. I don’t think I’ve seen you before?”

“Nah, you probably haven’t,” Chie agrees. “I’m Satonaka Chie. We just moved here in May, and I’ve been kinda busy- you know, new school, exams and all- so I haven’t been able to get out much. I think we’re staying here for the next couple of days, though- dad accidentally broke a pipe at our house trying to fix the air conditioner, and half of the house is flooded.”

“...flooded?”

“Yeah,” Chie says, kind of embarrassed. “It’s  _ really _ stupid. What he thought he was going to accomplish by waving a hammer around near the delicate parts of the plumbing is beyond me, but now I get to live in a swamp. It’s too cold for that still, anyhow! For some reason, when he said we were moving to somewhere more rural, I didn’t think this is what he meant.”

The girl ( _ Yukiko _ , Chie thinks) widens her eyes in surprise and stares at her.

Then she doubles over.

Chie jumps up in concern. She thinks Yukiko must be having some sort of medical emergency. She doesn’t know what to do! She’s only known this girl for a couple of minutes- could this be some dangerous chronic condition rearing its head? After a second, though, the thought occurs to her that this might be-

Laughter?

“ _ Oh my god _ ,” Yukiko wheezes out. “Somewhere more- that’s, haha,  _ priceless _ ! Hahahahahaha….”

Chie’s stupefied.

After what feels like an hour (it’s more like a minute, but that one minute is  _ interminable _ ), Yukiko straightens up. “I’m sorry,” she manages. “I don’t usually do that in front of strangers. But that was just-  _ snrk _ \- perfect! I couldn’t help it.”

Yukiko’s shoulders are still shaking slightly. Her hair is cascading down her shoulders. Even though she’s bent over, practically vibrating with laughter, not a hair is out of place. Chie feels an irresistible urge to mess up her hair, or pull it, or  _ something _ , just so Yukiko doesn’t look so perfect.

But just as that wave of jealousy hits, the other girl looks up. “Would you like to wait for your dad in my room?” she asks, almost shyly. “I’ve got the entirety of  _ Porgy and Bess _ on tape. We could listen to that, if you’d like?”

 

♫ ♫ ♫

 

She spends all afternoon in Yukiko’s room, listening to music and laughing together at all of her horrible attempts to translate the opera’s songs. Yukiko’s always perfectly-poised, obviously used to talking to people, but somehow she still seems to find  _ Chie  _ cool. This girl, this model of everything Chie isn’t and should be, is hanging onto every single word with rapt attention. (It’s kind of a rush.)

And she continues to do so. Even after the pipes have been fixed and her house has dried up, Chie becomes kind of a permanent fixture at the Inn. Over the break, Chie learns that Yukiko plays the flute and doesn’t own any clothes in cool colours and is an absolute angel at singing and is banned from the Inn kitchen for what the staff call “potential crimes against humanity”. She introduces Yukiko to some of her favourite kung-fu movies (Chie feels a strange sense of delight when Yukiko doesn’t cringe at the violent scenes- finally,  _ some _ proof she isn’t the perfect model of decorum and innocence) and complains for hours about everything that annoys her. Yukiko seems content to listen most of the time, fiddling with a pen or playing with Chie’s hair, occasionally adding in a bad pun when one comes to her. Now and then, Chie’ll say something that induces another laughing fit, and she has to wait a couple minutes before they can continue. After getting over over her initial alarm, Chie can’t help but notice that Yukiko can make even  _ deranged laughter _ look cute. She’s not sure whether to be charmed or jealous, so she usually ends up compromising by staring at the floor awkwardly while Yukiko calms down.

She doesn’t usually see Yukiko when she’s not at the inn- possibly, she thinks, because her friend’s parents seem pretty overcontrolling. Now and then, she sees Yukiko out in the shopping district, picking something up, but when she sees Chie she just waves and hurries off, barely ever stopping to chat.

“The inn’s so busy most of the time,” Yukiko explains one day, splayed out on her bed beside Chie. “My parents need to always know where I am in case something happens, you know?”

“How about after the shopping district’s closed? They can’t really send you to on errands then. Nobody arrives at that point, anyway.”

“Well.” Yukiko hesitates. “I’m still- I’m supposed to be learning how to run the inn. There are still things I could be learning, and I really shouldn’t be running off at all hours of the night.”

Chie rolls over to face her. “So you’re just going to not do  _ anything _ , in case you miss something your parents might want you to do?”

Yukiko’s staring at the ceiling. Chie feels kind of angry, for some reason she can’t quite place, and she has to hold herself back from arguing any further. Yukiko gives a noncommittal hum, and Chie forces herself to roll back and glare at her friend’s pillow.

It’s about a week after that that Chie gets the call halfway through dinner and (a few minutes and shoddy excuses later) winds up at the floodplain staring at her soaked, bedraggled, shivering friend. And... a wet dog?

“Yukiko,” she says, dumbfounded, “when I suggested you explore the town more, picking up a stray dog off the streets  _ wasn’t what I meant _ .”

“He’s really very sweet,” Yukiko implores, petting the dog’s head to illustrate her point. Chie glances at it apprehensively. “I bet he’d be well-behaved. Chie, you  _ know _ my parents wouldn’t let me keep him, but I can’t just let him  _ starve _ out here...”

“I still don’t think my parents will want to let a semi-wild animal into their house,” Chie says seriously.

Yukiko looks to be almost on the verge of crying. “He’s not wild! In fact, he’s very tame. I think he used to live with one of the people who moved out of the shopping district recently, so he’s housetrained and all. You could tell them it’s a favour for me?” she tries. “It would mean a lot!.”

“I doubt that’ll work,” Chie says. “My best friend taking a fancy to some random dog won’t convince them to adopt it with, like, no notice. They’re impossible about these things, and I don’t want to push them on this right after leaving in the middle of dinner, you know?”

“So you’re just going to give up?”

She looks up at Yukiko sharply. There’s a strange look in her eyes Chie can’t quite name, and the her mouth is quirked up oddly. “I thought you were all for pushing your independence and not being ruled by fear and all. Isn’t that a bit hypocritical? Or does that just not apply to you?”

“Hey, look,” Chie starts to protest- and then stops and sighs. “Alright, fine. I’ll talk to them, but I can’t promise anything, okay?” She can see Yukiko holding back a triumphant grin, and she snorts internally. “I can’t believe this,” she mutters ruefully.  
“So,” Yukiko says, and she really is smiling now. “Best friend, huh?”

“Well, it’s not like anyone else was really in the running at the moment, right?” Chie responds awkwardly. “You- well, you should get home. Your parents are going to tear their hair out at you coming in so late  _ and _ so covered in mud, right? You’ll need every advantage you can get.”

“Well, at least I’m not coming home with a dog in tow,” Yukiko points out, “but you’re right. I’ll- see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yeah, sure,” says Chie, and Yukiko’s already set off for home. Chie watches the last strands of her hair whip back around the fence and out of sight. 

She looks at the dog. The dog looks at her. “C’mere, then,” she tells him. “We’ve got a confrontation to attend.”

Chie’s always wanted a dog, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> So! Current plan for this fic:  
> I've got another good bit written so far, and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. This _is_ my first multichapter fic, and I have terrible time management, so it may be alittle bit between updates, but I'm going to try to get it out at a reasonable pace: I've certainly delayed its publishing long enough at this point. 
> 
> I'll have more details about the plot and mechanics of the Investigation Team for this au as we get further into the story. Since this is focusing on Chie and Yukiko's social link, I'll probably skip over most of the actual game plot, but I'll make sure to put in enough to get a general idea.
> 
> I'm over on tumblr at [@unfathomabletortoise](https://unfathomabletortoise.tumblr.com/)! Honestly, if you want _good_ persona ideas, you should go to my gf, but if you want to hear about why Yosuke was probably at some point in his life an Eridan stan, I'd be happy to elaborate.


End file.
